Artificial Sweeteners And Preterm Birth

According to a study published in the September 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a diet chock full of artificial sweeteners may have a negative effect on your pregnancy.

Of the more than 59,000 pregnant women who participated in the study, those who reported drinking an artificially sweetened drink every day had an increased risk of preterm delivery. Researchers don't know yet if drinking artificial sweeteners caused preterm deliveries; their experiment showed only an association between the two in the study. The researchers concluded that, while artificial sweeteners are generally regarded as safe, further studies are needed to learn why preterm births happened more often to the women in the study who consumed sweeteners regularly.

If you're pregnant, the safest approach is to go with the natural stuff. Better yet, limit your intake of sweet foods to those that provide the most nutrition: fruits, veggies and recipes that use them.